ISLAMABAD - In protest of NATO attacks on tribal areas, a Pakistani student Samad Khurram flatly refused his Harvard University Scholarship award presented to him here on Wednesday by American Ambassador Anne W Patterson. Khurram refused the award, which was presented in an event held by a private collage at the National Art Gallery, as a protest against the recently carried out American attacks on Mohmand Agency. The American Ambassador greatly regretted these attacks, terming them as a "terrible misunderstanding." She refuted the notion that the student was refusing the award, maintaining that currently there were 5,400 Pakistani students studying in America. The entire hall resounded with thunderous clapping for the student who was later on restricted by management to talk to any media person. While speaking at the Annual Student Recognition Day of Roots College International, the US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson underscored the need for people to people ties to strengthen the relationship between Pakistan and the US. "There is a myth that American universities are hesitant to accept students from Pakistan," Patterson told graduates of the Roots Schools System who had received private scholarships to study in the US and other countries. "All together, 5,400 students from Pakistan studied at US colleges and universities last year." Congratulating the management of the Roots School System for twenty years of outstanding service in educating young people in Pakistan, the Ambassador said she was impressed that Roots students had earned full scholarships to selective universities such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dartmouth. "With your educational opportunities, you are the natural future leaders in whatever profession you may choose," Patterson told the students. She urged them to focus not only on getting top grades but also on broadening their vision and finding how they could best serve society after obtaining degree.